Broadcaster Vin Scully has been the voice of the Los Angeles Dodgers for longer than the Dodgers have been in California. And he'll return for his 65th season next year, the team said Friday, extending a streak that includes 25 World Series and the Brooklyn Dodgers' lone title, from 1955.
Scully's voice has described many iconic moments in baseball history, from the Don Larsen's perfect game in the 1956 World Series to Hank Aaron's record-setting 715th home run in 1974, during a game between the Atlanta Braves and the Dodgers. A recording of his call of Sandy Koufax's 1962 no-hitter emerged in recent years.
The Dodgers' resurgence this season helped Scully, 85, decide to return to the stadium that he recently called "the magic castle." He received a standing ovation upon his return to the broadcasting booth this season, after illness forced him to skip the team's home opener — the first he'd missed since 1977.
"I have thoroughly enjoyed the excitement of this season, and there is no way I could leave this truly remarkable team and our great fans," Scully said, in an announcement from the Dodgers. "With my wife Sandi's blessing, I've decided I'd like to come back and do it again next season. I love what the new ownership has brought to the team, and the energy provided by the fans, who have packed renovated Dodger Stadium. It reminds me that other than being home with my family, there is no place else I'd rather be."
Scully has been working games under a yearly contract for the past several years. Under the new deal, he will call the Dodgers' home games, as well as road games in California and Arizona.
"As long as television has been a force in popular culture, Scully has been a part of television," The Los Angeles Times reports. "In 1950, when Scully made his debut with the Brooklyn Dodgers, no one on his block had a television."
"The first time my mother and father ever saw me on television, they had to go to a restaurant," Scully tells the newspaper.
In 1982, Scully was inducted into the broadcasting wing of the Baseball Hall of Fame, which reports that his career with the Dodgers is believed to be the longest of any broadcaster in sports history.
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